


Criminal Career

by catemonsterq



Series: Swallowed By The New [1]
Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies)
Genre: Bechdel Test Pass, Established Relationship, F/M, Not Canon Compliant
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-26
Updated: 2018-04-26
Packaged: 2019-04-28 06:17:45
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 20,306
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14443173
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/catemonsterq/pseuds/catemonsterq
Summary: Clint and Darcy had an unconventional relationship, but then again nothing about the two of them had been conventional since they’d met. Can Clint reconcile the career he has with the love and the life he wants?Or, how many times can Tony Stark fly Clint Barton around the country?





	1. It’s No Wonder We’re Wanting More (Miracle That We Came This Far)

**Author's Note:**

> Set post Avengers, but we're pretending Coulson is still alive because I love him and I wanted him to be in the fic, even as a background character. 
> 
> Title and chapter titles come from the Glen Phillips song "Criminal Career". This is my first of 11 (possibly 12?) works in the Swallowed By The New series. Most of these works will be one shots and not connected, however I do have plans for a follow up to this story. With any luck you can expect a sequel to this story, "There's Always More", within the next month. 
> 
> Thanks to CraftingKatie for the encouragement and the help- particularly for letting me ask you questions that I already knew the answer to, if only to confirm that my original answer was correct. Thanks also for the challenge, being my music friend, and introducing me to crinkle eyes. Best of twins, best of women (I'll say it again and again).

Clint and Darcy had an unconventional relationship, but then again nothing about the two of them had been conventional since they’d met. She’d been demanding back her iPod from his boss, all spitfire, and energy and he’d slipped it out of the containment box SHIELD had stored it in and into her back pocket. Coulson had pretended not to notice, but the way Darcy had faltered and suddenly changed the subject had given him away. 

She’d dragged him out for tacos as a thank you later that night and tumbled into his bed after their meal. When the next morning she’d commandeered his entire coffee pot to herself, she tumbled into his heart as well. Still, a relationship with a SHIELD agent and trained spy-ssasin wasn’t easy and they had spent the last eight months of their nearly two year relationship primarily apart - Clint always flew to see her on the odd days he’d get off between missions and safe houses, but he never felt like it was enough time.

He had been there for the big moments since they’d gotten together - her graduation, her sisters marriage. That time she’d had to have an emergency appendectomy and he’d flown in from the Middle East to take care of her (that was the time he won her parents over, he’d never forget the way her mom had fawned over him every time he called with an update). Clint’s relationship history was spotty at best so at first, he was fine with the Big Moments only, but as time drew on he found he hated that he was missing out on the small ones. 

When Clint woke in the secure bunker the first thing he saw was his cell phone sitting on the makeshift nightstand which meant he’d be going home soon. Natasha must have gotten the orders from Coulson during the night and brought his phone back to him. She was about the only person who could reliably approach him in his sleep without him noticing. Clint sat up and rubbed the sleep from his eyes before he turned his phone on for the first time in eight days. 

Setting it down again to let it boot up, he began to get ready for the day ahead. When he came back a few moments later he found ten text messages and a handful of voicemails from Darcy waiting for him. He skipped breakfast to read through the messages - mostly good morning texts that she knew he likely wouldn’t answer, but still sent anyway just in case. There were two that were part of the same message, just one long rant about how annoyed she was with the computer systems they were using and how Jane’s impatience was making it worse. 

Clint saved the voicemails for later and tried not to think about how bad he felt that he hadn’t been able to send Darcy any replies when she’d wished him good morning and sent one now.

_ Morning, honey. I think I’m coming home soon.  _

He turned his phone to Do Not Disturb and set it back on the nightstand before going in to work. 

~*~

“Barton, we’re leaving today. Jet leaves at 14:00, be ready,” Coulson said from behind the desk he’d been using for the duration of this mission. 

Now was the time, Clint knew. He’d been thinking about taking a break for awhile now, but this most recent mission had really brought the issue to a forefront in his mind. He missed Darcy. He hated not waking up next to her. Hated that he’d had to miss her call when she was stressed about the computers (he’d finally listened to the voicemails, in one he could hear how upset she was and in the other, she was telling him not to worry about her and sounded fine). He craved the time off to spend with her. 

Clint had never asked for an extended break since he’d started with SHIELD. It just wasn’t in his nature and there was always another bad guy to take out. He was nervous to ask even though he knew his contract allowed for the time, “Can I have two weeks off, sir?”

Coulson raised an eyebrow, “Now?” When Clint nodded he continued, “Why, exactly?” 

“It’s a personal matter, sir.” Clint hoped that his boss wouldn’t question him further. No such luck.

“Alright. I’ll assume this has something to do with Dr. Foster’s assistant. That’s fine, take the time off. But I’ll need you back in New York and ready to move into Avengers Tower when the two weeks is up.” Coulson pushed a folder across the desk and Clint opened it to read about the Avengers relocation and his new living quarters. Once he’d read through the information he closed the folder and placed it back on the desk in front of him. “You’re dismissed, Barton. I’ll be in touch with a rendezvous point for the Tower.”

~*~ 

Clint spent the first five minutes of their flight over the ocean feeling guilty about having spent so much time away from Darcy, but he wasn’t able to wallow for long. 

“What’s eating at you, Barton?” Natasha asked Clint, sitting down in the seat directly across from him. 

Clint contemplated the best way to answer this. Natasha was never one for serious relationships, so he wasn’t sure how much she would understand his feelings. “I had ten missed texts and two missed calls from Darcy when I turned my phone on this morning.”

“So?” the redhead prodded. 

“I hate that I couldn’t respond to any of them, it’s driving me crazy.” Clint sighed and looked down into his lap. 

“Were any of the texts emergencies?” Natasha asked, always practical. 

“No. Most of them were just her wishing me good morning. There was a text about her being annoyed at something, but that was mostly it.” Clint paused, “In one of the voicemails she sounded upset, but in the next one she said I shouldn’t worry about her.”

Natasha raised an eyebrow, “So why are you worrying, Barton?” 

Clint’s mouth scrunched up in a tight frown before he continued, “It’s less worry and more guilt. And sadness. I miss her. I want to be able to give her the type of relationship where she can expect a reply to the texts and the phone calls, but I don’t think that it’s possible while being an agent of SHIELD.”

“Clint,” Natasha said curtly, “Has Darcy said she is upset about this?” When Clint shook his head no she continued, “Then you should be thankful to have a partner who seems to understand the limitations of dating one of us and stop waiting for the other shoe to fall.”

Clint nods in understanding and a part of him knows Natasha is right. Darcy has been nothing but patient with him since the beginning of their relationship and she’s given him no reason to believe she has any qualms about the status quo. And yet he still can’t shake the uneasy feeling he has - that there’s got to be something more that he could be doing. 

Clint had the pilot drop him off close to Culver University and got off the plane bounding with energy. He hadn’t been able to let Darcy know he’d be home tonight - by the time the pilot had agreed to drop him here they’d already been in the air and he’d been unable to text. He sets off to find the closest bank of stores and takes care of a few things before he catches a cab to Darcy’s apartment, packages stuffed into his bag. 

~*~  

Clint has a key to her apartment - their apartment, she’d insist, even though he was never there long enough to unpack. Still, he always knocked on the door the first time he came for a visit. Old habits die hard and to be honest, he liked the thrill of anticipation before Darcy came to greet him. When he reaches her door he can hear music playing in the background and adds a little force to his knock. He regrets it as soon as he hears her startled screech and the sound of something falling to the floor. “Darcy, it’s me,” he calls. 

The door opens seconds later and Darcy pulls him inside, then into a warm kiss. “I missed you,” she says into Clint’s neck as she settles her arms around his waist. 

“Hey,” Clint says before kissing the top of her head. “Let me get my stuff put down and then we can catch up?” 

Darcy nodded then went to pick up the set of books that she’d dropped when he knocked. She turned off the music and moved to sit on the couch with her legs laying on the cushions. Clint joined her a few moments later in a fresh set of clothes (comfortable, not tactical), then pulled her feet into his lap. “You surprised me,” she said. 

“Yeah. Sorry to have scared you - by the time I knew I would be here tonight I was already in the air,” Clint says as he gently massages one of her feet. “Do you think you’re up for another surprise?” 

Darcy raises an eyebrow curiously, “That depends on the surprise, Mister. I’m not good with large groups of strangers or completely unexpected changes.”

Clint just chuckles at her and switches to her other foot, “No, nothing like that.” He pauses and bends down to press a kiss to the top of the foot in his hand. “I’ve got the next two weeks off,” he started. Darcy perked up, pulling her feet from his hands and tucking her knees under her to move closer to him. “And-” he said before she could speak, “At the end of the two weeks I’ll be moving into Avengers Tower in New York and my name is taken off the spy mission roster completely.”

Darcy grinned, “You’re shitting me right now.” Clint shook his head, smiling back at her. “Is this Christmas?”

“No, honey,” he chuckled, “It’s just that being an Avenger means I’m a little more recognizable - spying isn’t going to come so easily. Add in that they want us all in one easily defensible place whenever possible and my new home is in New York City.” Clint leans in to kiss Darcy quickly before adding, “I should be able to be around a lot more.”

“Oh no, we’re going to be sick of each other,” Darcy whispered before kissing Clint, a smile still on her lips. 

“Never,” he replies, but it’s swallowed by their kiss. Darcy moves to straddle Clint on the couch, leaning into the kiss as Clint licks into her mouth. Darcy makes a soft noise, a gentle moan that never gets fully realized, and it occurs to Clint just how much he missed her. His hands go to her hips, guiding them as Darcy rubs herself over his half-hard cock. 

Darcy leans back and takes off her shirt, giving Clint easy access to her round breasts. Before Darcy can move back to kissing him, Clint has begun licking a wet path up the valley between her breasts. His tongue moves left and traces along the line of her bra, pausing to nip at the soft flesh before continuing on up to her collarbone. One of his hands skated up her back to pinch at the clasp of her bra as the other gently guided the strap down one shoulder. “You’re so beautiful,” Clint said as he leaned back to take a good look at her. 

Darcy smiled at him, “You’re not so bad yourself, but less talking and more kissing. Before I get sick of you,” she teased as she pulled at the fabric of his shirt. He leaned forward to accommodate her tugging and soon his bare skin was pressed against hers, the thrill of it sending shockwaves through both of them. 

Clint bent his head slightly to take one of her nipples into his mouth, tongue swirling around it until it formed a stiff peak. He bit down just hard enough to cause pain before licking it sweetly and enjoying the moan it elicited from Darcy. He pushes at the waistband of her yoga pants and panties, tugging the fabric down as he moves his hands down her ass. 

Darcy lifts her hips up and Clint gets a face full of breasts - no complaints from him - as he pushes the pants down her legs further. She lifts one leg and Clint helps her to push the remaining fabric off of her calf, effectively freeing her. There’s another shift of hips and hands before Clint’s pants are tugged down to his knees and Darcy sinks back down on his lap, her wet folds parting for him. 

“Fuck, Darcy,” Clint bites into her neck when he feels how slick she is. “I’m not going to last long with you like this.”

One of Darcy’s hands moves down to guide Clint’s cock into her. “I don’t care,” she moans, “I need you inside of me.” She thrusts down onto his flushed dick, both of them groaning at the missed sensation. They rut against each other on the couch, neither of them caring much for finesse, instead focused solely on seeking out their own pleasure. Darcy reaches a hand down to circle at her clit, moans tumbling out of her mouth as she shakes apart around Clint. He follows her, hips stuttering to a stop, not long after. 

~*~

The next morning Clint revels in the feeling of waking up next to Darcy, warm body snug against his as the sun rises outside. He could get used to this, he thinks. When Darcy begins to stir a few moments later his heart warms at the smile she gives him and he thanks his lucky stars that he gets to spend the next two weeks waking up like this. 

They had just finished eating breakfast when Clint’s phone began to buzz in his pocket. 

“Shit,” Clint says as he looks at his phone. “I have to take this, Darcy.” He tries not to notice the hurt look in her eyes as he gets up and moves to the bedroom, closing the door behind him. A few minutes later when he opens the door quietly, he spies Darcy moving from bookshelf to bookshelf in her living room. 

She’s picking up tchotchkes, dusting beneath them, and placing them back down again without even looking to see if what she’s doing is necessary. When she’s finished the first shelf she moves down to the next and Clint can recognize this routine of hers - he’s only seen it when he’s had to take calls like this, but he wonders how often she does it when he’s not there. Darcy is holding a stack of books, wiping at the clean table beneath them, when Clint enters the room again, this time in tactical black. She spots him out of the corner of her eye and startles, dropping the books. 

“Do you have something against the Bronte sisters, Clint? It’s the second time you’ve made me drop them in under 24 hours,” Darcy straightens the pile before crossing the room to where Clint stands and it dawns on him that she must do this cleaning routine regularly. “When do you leave?” 

“Natasha said a car would be by in a bit,” Clint lays a palm across Darcy’s cheek, caressing her. 

“I thought we had longer,” she says as she turns her face to kiss his palm. “You said -”

Clint cuts her off before she can finish the thought, “I know. Natasha wouldn’t call me if it wasn’t an emergency. I made her swear to me I’d be back here by tonight, though.”

Darcy looks at him, a little disbelief creeping through her features, “Can you really do that?”

“For this job, it shouldn’t be a problem. I’ll be back before your alarm goes off at ass o’clock tomorrow morning, I promise,” Clint says as he pulls Darcy in for a hug. 

“Okay,” Darcy says into his chest. 

“Okay?” Clint asks and Darcy can hear the eyebrow he’s raised at the word. “How are you so amazing?” Darcy laughs at him as he pulls her down onto the couch, her back resting against his chest with her legs splayed out on the couch cushions. He can tell she’s still brimming with nervous energy just under the surface and he hates that he’s done this to her. 

“I don’t know if amazing is the word,” Darcy says. “I mean, you’re a hero. I knew what I was getting into when we got together. That doesn’t mean I don’t worry about you, it just means I have to remind myself a lot that you’ve never broken your promise to come back to me.”

Before Clint can think of a proper response his phone buzzes to let him know the car is here. Darcy stands without hesitating - she’s always been so good at turning off the heavy emotions of a goodbye, knowing he would have a harder time focusing with passionate words hanging in the air. Clint gathers his bow case from the hallway and meets Darcy at the door, “See you later, alligator.” He presses a kiss to her temple as she wraps her arms around his waist. 

“After a while, crocodile,” Darcy leans up to press a kiss to his lips before backing away so he can open the door and go. Their little ritual leaves a smile on Darcy’s face that he can see as she closes the door behind him. 

~*~

Darcy had given up pretending that waiting on Clint to come back from a mission was easy about three months into their relationship and hadn’t looked back. Saying goodbye to him was hard - she could never be sure he’d come back in one piece, let alone that he’d come back at all. She couldn’t let him see that, she knew. The last thing she wanted was for him to be focusing on her when he needed to be focusing on targets. 

Now, whenever he left she had a routine, something to do each day to focus on. Night one was always the worst so she would order her favorite Thai food, drink bourbon from the bottle, and marathon their favorite episodes of Dog Cops until she fell asleep on the couch. Nights two through whenever he came back mostly consisted of an impeccable cleaning list and light-hearted music she could dance to. 

Today would be different, Darcy knew. Clint had promised he’d be back that night and whereas it was fine for Jane to stumble into her apartment and find her half-naked and passed out drunk on her couch, it wasn’t exactly a position she wanted Clint to find her in. He had enough to worry about. 

Her apartment was already nearly spotless, he’d only just gotten back, after all, so she was having to resort to Plan J - dragging Jane out of the labs for a day of stitch and bitching. Thor had recently seen a photo of Sam Barksy’s artistic sweater rendition of  Mjölnir’s arrival to Earth and was insistent that he had one of his own. Seeing as Sam’s work wasn’t for sale, Jane was now determined to learn to knit and make one for him herself. 

“Oooh, Janey, you should get this yarn for the entire back of the sweater,” Darcy held out a deep red yarn that matched the color of Thor’s cape perfectly. “It’d be like he was wearing his cape, except in sweater form.”

Jane grabbed a ball of the yarn eagerly, “Do you think I could make myself a blanket that’s like his cape?” Her fingers were stroking the soft yarn and Darcy could tell that Jane was already imagining wrapping herself up in the blanket cape while Thor was away on missions. 

“Sure,” Darcy replied, “But you’ll probably need at least ten skeins of yarn for a blanket alone.”

Jane took a cursory glance over the yarn caddy before emptying all fourteen skeins into the handbasket that contained the rest of the yarn she’d need for the sweater. 

The pair left the craft store and made a short pit stop for a bottle of tequila before heading back to Jane’s apartment to begin their work. Once they were there, Darcy pulled out the hat she’d been working on and got to work. It wasn’t long before she had to put it down and help Jane figure out how to pick up a dropped stitch and it wasn’t too long after that when the tequila got opened up and the afternoon really got going. 

Hours later after the moon had risen and the city lights were blinking, Darcy packed up her now completed hat and shuffled out of Jane’s apartment and down to a cab and made her way back home. Her apartment was empty and quiet, something she was used to by now but it didn’t make it any more enjoyable. Before she could get down about it she changed into her pajamas, grabbed a beer from the fridge, and started up her Netflix queue. She fell asleep on the couch before she made it through two episodes of Parks & Rec, beer bottle nestled in the crook of her elbow and blanket half over her legs. 

When Clint got back to the apartment at 3 AM he used his key to open the door and was a little surprised to see the glow of the television cast over the living room. Darcy was asleep on the couch, one side of her face pressed against the back cushion of the couch with her mouth hanging open. The bottle of beer was still cradled between her arm and her body, the blanket had been kicked down to her ankles at some point. 

Clint bit back the surge of worry he felt at the scene - too many nights as a child with his father’s  drunken beatings threatening to surface - and turned off the television before carefully withdrawing the mostly full beer bottle from where it sat. Once it was settled on the coffee table he scooped Darcy into his arms and carried her to the bedroom, tucking her in before he got ready for bed and climbed in himself. 

~*~

Darcy woke the next morning in a fog. Clint was in her bed and she knew he hadn’t been in her apartment when she’d gotten back from Jane’s the night before. After some careful mental prodding, she deduced that she’d come home and fallen asleep on the couch with the intent of waiting up on Clint. He must have come home and moved her to the bed and she smiled broadly at the thought of him taking care of her.

She turns onto her side and finally opens her eyes to see her alarm clock is blocked by a tall glass of water and a small pile of ibuprofen and Darcy has to stifle a laugh at Clint’s nurturing streak. She shuffles up to a sitting position and takes the water gratefully while leaving the pills on the nightstand. When Clint moves across the bed to drape an arm around her waist and lay his head on her thigh, she cards her hand through his short hair and closes her eyes to rest against the headboard. They stay entwined like that for another few minutes before Clint’s chin digs into Darcy’s thigh sharply. 

“Gonna take the vitamin I?” Clint asks, his fingers gesturing towards the small pile of pills. 

“Nah, didn’t drink that much. I feel okay,” Darcy says. “Could use a pot of coffee, though,” she says through a yawn. 

“Honey, you were asleep with a beer bottle in your arm,” Clint says, trying not to sound like he doubts her even though he does. 

Darcy scoffs at him, “Clint, I had three margaritas at Jane’s and came home. I thought I’d be able to stay awake until you got home so I grabbed a beer to nurse. I fell asleep before I could finish it.” Clint looks up at her from her place in her lap, blue eyes seeking hers. “I’m fine, Clint,” Darcy reassures him. “You don’t need to worry about me.”

Clint presses a kiss to her upper thigh and considers her words. He wants to believe her, but the image of her absently cleaning and the memory of her nervous energy as he held her yesterday afternoon combines with the one of her from when he got in and he can’t help be concerned. When he is with Darcy she is opened and unafraid, he only sees this anxious side of her before he has to leave for a mission even though she tries hard to keep it from him. 

Clint makes a quick decision, “I’ll go make coffee, you pack a bag for a week in Colorado.” Darcy raises an eyebrow at him. “Just bring all your flannel, you’ll love it.” Clint grabs his phone from the dresser, texting someone as he makes his way out of the bedroom. 

By the time Clint comes back into the bedroom with two large mugs of coffee Darcy has only managed to get her duffel bag from her closet and a small pile of underwear on the bed. “Hop to it, Lewis,” Clint calls as he hands her the steaming mug. “Wheels up in thirty minutes.” 

Clint busies himself with emptying his own mission duffel to make room for his casual clothes while Darcy just stands and stares at him. “Do you maybe want to explain this to me?” she says before taking a large gulp of coffee. 

Clint moves into the closet and begins pulling flannel shirts of Darcy’s off of the hangers. “I wasn’t kidding about the wheels up, Darce. I’ll explain if you’ll pack,” he says as he tosses a bundle of flannel shirts and sweaters onto the bed in front of him. As soon as Darcy begins folding clothes and tucking them into her luggage, Clint begins to speak. 

“Tony was with us yesterday and he heard me bitching to Natasha about how I was supposed to be off for the next two weeks so I could spend time with you.” Clint pauses here and moves closer to Darcy to press a kiss to her temple. “He offered me a jet and his cabin in Beaver Creek for the week.”

Darcy has folded most of the shirts he brought to her and moved on to grabbing jeans and pajamas from her dresser. “So we’re just taking off?”

“Yeah,” Clint grins at her, a little sheepish. “I wasn’t sure about it until this morning. You just seemed so anxious yesterday and I don’t like seeing you like that.” The words Clint doesn’t say - that he is the cause of that anguish - go unsaid but Darcy knows they’re there, lying just beneath the surface. 

Darcy bites her lower lip and considers her words carefully before responding, “You know you don’t have to take me on lavish vacations, right?”

“Sure,” Clint says as he zips up his own duffel bag. “But I’m allowed to want to, right?” 

Darcy can’t really argue that point so she just finishes with her packing and sends a quick text to Jane that she’ll be off for the next week. If a small thanks to Thor that her boss is so understanding goes out, well no one can really blame her for that.    



	2. I Just Want to See You Open, Unafraid and Golden (Like I've Always Known You To Be)

An hour later they’re boarding a small private Stark jet, just the two of them. “No pilot?” Darcy asks Clint as she tucks her duffel bag into the storage compartment in the back of the plane. 

“I’m the pilot,” he says incredulously and Darcy can’t help but laugh at him. 

“Forgive me for thinking you wanted to join the mile high club,” she smirks. 

Clint has already turned towards the cockpit for pre-flight checks but Darcy catches his response anyway, “S’not all it’s cracked up to be sweetheart.”

When they touch down four hours later there’s a sports car waiting for them, sleek and silver. It’s nowhere near the standard Stark town car Clint had expected and he grins when he shoots Tony a text message thanking him. There’s already coordinates to the cabin programmed into the car so Clint leans back and enjoys the drive to Tony’s cabin with the purr of a fast engine beneath him. 

“Holy shit,” Darcy utters as they turn the final curve of the long driveway to the cabin. “Is this really what Tony considers a cabin?” The building in front of them is a large craftsman style cabin with floor to ceiling windows and large covered and uncovered decks extending from the backside. 

“That’s what Tony called it,” Clint responds as he gets their bags from the trunk of the car. 

“I guess I’m just used to 4H camping. You know, bunk beds and awful showers. This looks amazing,” Darcy climbs the short flight of steps onto the front porch.

Clint presses his palm to a panel hidden in the doorway and there’s a click of the door unlocking. “After you,” he gestures as he pushes the door opened. 

The cabin is only two bedrooms for as imposing as it looks from the outside. There’s a hot tub on one of the outdoor decks, as well as a top of the line kitchen and an outdoor grilling area. It’s situated on the banks of a river and from one of the decks off a bedroom, Darcy can spot a firepit with a bench swing set up that looks perfect for evening unwinding. 

“Unpack, explore the cabin, and then grocery shop?” Clint asks, sneaking up from behind Darcy and snaking an arm around her waist. 

“Sounds like a plan,” she replies, pushing back from the deck railing to move them inside. 

As it turns out, Tony had a service stock the kitchen before they had arrived and had arranged for a personal chef to come by to prepare a meal for them that night. “Traveling sucks, take the day off,” Tony had replied when Clint had called him to ask him about the preparations. 

That night they dined on steaks and fancy wine before settling down on the swing by the river, rocking in time with the tide. When Darcy fell asleep tucked into Clint’s side he struggled with the decision to wake her before she turned in his arms and woke herself up. “Bedtime,” Clint whispered into the crown of her head. They walked together up to the cabin and slept until late the next morning. 

~*~ 

“Okay, out with it Barton,” Darcy says, breaking the silence between them in the small rowboat they shared. 

“Out with what, exactly?” Clint asked, a hand trailing in the cool, still water beside their boat.

Darcy rolls her eyes at him, “You’ve been moody and quiet for the past three days of our vacation and there’s only so much ignoring it and hoping it goes away that I can do.”

Clint lets out a deep sigh, “I didn’t really want to do this in the middle of a lake.”

“Tough shit,” Darcy says, but she doesn’t push anymore. Instead, she waits quietly for another few minutes while Clint gathers his thoughts. When he speaks again Darcy’s stomach drops. 

“Are you sure you want to be with me?” Clint asks, and Darcy would think it was a joke but the look in his eyes tells her it’s anything but. 

“What kind of question is that? Are you trying to break up with me?” The boat rocks a little when Darcy gestures wildly with her hands and maybe Clint was right, the middle of a lake wasn’t the right place to be having this conversation. 

“No, Darcy, definitely not,” Clint says, reaching across the small space between them to clasp both her hands in one of his, quickly preventing a tip over. “I just...I have to leave you all the time. Sometimes I come back wounded. Other times it’s lucky I come back.”

Darcy had calmed herself slightly at Clint’s admission that he was not attempting to leave her, but as he continued on she grew tenser. “Clint, I’m fully aware of the dangers of being in a relationship with you. I’ve been doing it for how long now?”

“I know,” he says as he drops her hands. “But I’ve been ignoring how that affects you this whole time and I don’t think I can anymore.” Darcy doesn’t say anything and after a moment of silence, Clint continues to speak, “The cleaning thing? And before I left the other day you practically vibrating with nervous energy. And I’m still undecided on if I need to be worried about a drinking problem.”

Darcy is very thankful that she’s been taking yoga classes in her spare time because she’s fairly certain if she weren’t practicing the meditative breathing right now the boat would be upside down in this lake. It’s Clint’s turn to wait patiently as she gathers her thoughts She needs to be sure she uses the right words and the right tone to get her message across, hopefully for the last time. 

“I clean my apartment routinely each day you’re gone.” Clint opens his mouth to speak but the look Darcy gives him shuts him up faster than words ever could. “It gives me something to focus on, a way to get out any nerves I have about what you’re doing and why I haven’t heard from you. You don’t have to worry about a drinking problem, I tried solving my stress issues that way in college and I know it doesn’t work - how do you think I figured out the cleaning thing?

“You don’t get to decide if I can handle the stress of your job, okay? I do. And here’s what I know, Clint. I know that if I weren’t stressing out about you, I’d just be stressing out about something else. Probably something small and mundane, so at least when it’s you I’m stressed about I know it’s worthwhile. I know that your job is dangerous and that means sometimes you’re putting yourself at risk. I hate that, but I also know if you weren’t risking your life to save the world you’d be risking your life in some other dumb way because you’re an adrenaline junkie. And finally,” Darcy pauses for a moment so her next words have a greater impact. “I know that I love you and I can’t imagine life without you.”

Darcy catches a flash of something - surprise, love, some combination? -  go across Clint’s face before he frowns, “Goddammit.”

“Um...What?” Darcy asks, suddenly worried after her openness. 

“I really want to kiss you right now, but I can’t unless we both want to wind up in the water,” Clint says as he reaches for the oars and begins to row them back to shore with a determined speed that puts his well-muscled arms to good use. 

When they reach solid ground their kiss sends shivers down Darcy’s spine. It curls her toes. She smiles when he parts from her and whispers, “In case you didn’t get the message - I love you, too.”

~*~

The week in Colorado had passed the couple by faster than they could have anticipated. Darcy was expected back at the lab in two days and Clint had worked with Tony to arrange for a jet to be available for them the next morning. He’d been right to take her away for awhile, Darcy had been working herself harder than necessary and the break from reality had been nice. Not to mention the frequent multiple orgasms. 

They ate their last dinner on the lower uncovered deck, crisp air and candlelight surrounding them. When the meal was done Clint cleared the dishes from the table and placed them on the counter just inside the door. “Want to go sit by the fire pit?” he asked, one hand reaching out to Darcy to pull her from where she sat. 

“What kind of question is that? Of course, I want to go sit by the fire pit, Clint. Haven’t you heard about my pyro phase in high school?” Darcy laughed as she accepted his hand and is pulled into his warm embrace. 

A few minutes later there’s a small fire going in the pit in front of them, Clint and Darcy sitting close together on the bench swing nearby. “I’ve got to hand it to Stark,” Darcy said as she sipped at the drink she’d brought down to the fire with her. “He knows how to pick a great spot for a vacation home.”

In front of them, the river ran over smooth rocks, the babbling of the water providing a soothing background noise to the evening. The mountains in the distance gave way to a beautiful starry sky that they would never be able to see anywhere close to the cities they both always found themselves in. “Mmmm,” Clint hums in response as he looks up at the sky. “You know, I tried to learn all the constellations once?” 

“Yeah?” Darcy prods.

“Yeah. We had a fortune teller in the carnival who would gather the younger performers around on clear nights and tell us the stories behind them,” Clint adds. 

“Did you ever learn them all?”

Clint huffs out a short laugh, “God, no. I was pretty good at finding the big dipper and the Pleiades.”

Darcy laughs too, “I’ve always been able to find Orion, but that’s about it.”

Clint gazes up at the sky in search of the tell-tale sign of the seven sisters. When he spots it he runs his fingers down the length of Darcy’s right arm and wraps her hand around his and points out into the night sky. “See Orion’s belt just there?” When Darcy nods against his chest he moves their fingers across the sky to the small cluster of stars that make up the Pleiades, “There.”

“Do you remember their story?” Darcy asks as he lets her hand drop down to her lap. 

“No, not really. I do remember one thing about them, though.” When Darcy hums in response Clint continues to speak. “The Pleiades, or the Seven Sisters, are the daughters of Titan. You can only really see six of the stars though. Apparently, the seventh sister, Merope, married a mortal and is hiding her face from her sisters who never respected her for her love.”

“Poor Merope,” Darcy says with more feeling than a mythological tale really garnishes. 

The entire time Clint had been recalling the story of the sisters he’d been slowly reaching into his pocket, carefully pulling an object out of it and hoping Darcy hadn’t noticed. He grabs her left hand from it’s resting place on his thigh and slowly eases a ring down over her ring finger. “Hey Darce?” he says as the cool metal is making its way gently down her slender digit. “Wanna get married?” 

The ring settles against the end of her finger as Darcy looks up at Clint from her place on his chest. “You’re shitting me,” she says softly but the smile and the shine of tears in her eyes betray her true feelings. 

Clint kisses her quickly, “No, honey. I can’t imagine my life without you either. So let’s get married.”

“Okay,” Darcy says into his lips as she kisses him deeply before holding out her hand to the firelight so she can admire the ring he’s placed there. It’s a simple band with a small stone and it fits her perfectly. 

“Here, let me show you something,” Clint says as he begins to tug the ring gently off of her finger. 

“Hey!” Darcy calls, “No takes backs!”

“Shush,” Clint says before pressing a kiss to her head. “Look, can you see it in the firelight?” Clint holds the ring at an angle and Darcy notices an engraving on the inside of the ring, a small arrow with their initials on either end. 

The tears that had been shining in Darcy’s eyes since Clint had first asked her to marry her finally spilled over. “God, you’re such a sap,” she grinned. 

“Don’t tell Coulson, I’ll never live it down,” he says as he slides the ring back over her finger. 

~*~

They’re about ten minutes out from the small airport Tony’s plane is at when Darcy’s phone rings. It’s the first call she’s gotten from Jane all week and it shocks her right back into work mode faster than she thought possible. “What’s up, Boss Lady?”

Clint is trying hard not to eavesdrop on their conversation, instead paying very close attention to keeping his hands at 10 and 2 on the steering wheel. He can’t help but notice the tension that fills Darcy as her conversation goes on longer. 

“Jane, you can’t be serious. But I thought you didn’t-” Darcy is clearly cut off from completing that sentence. “Okay,” she sighs, “When do we move?” After Jane answers her, Darcy disconnects the call and shoves her phone back into her bag. 

“What was that?” Clint asks, placing one hand gently on the top of her thigh and squeezing lightly. 

“Jane’s work on the Einstein-Rosen bridge is apparently critical to the Avengers Initiative,” Darcy states. “Tony’s made space for her lab in the Avengers Tower and has offered her a suite of rooms for both of us to stay in.”

“So,” Clint says as he pulls the car to a slow stop by the Stark airplane that’s waiting for them. “Let me get this straight. In approximately one week I will be moving to New York City to live in Avengers Tower.” He takes off his seatbelt to turn in his seat and face her, “And in-”

“Two weeks,” Darcy says as she shifts to face him as well. 

“And in two weeks you will also be moving to New York City to live in Avengers Tower?” Darcy nods at him. “We’ll be living in the same space. Why the long face?” He reaches out a hand to place a palm on her cheek. 

Darcy sighs and leans into his palm, “I hate packing to move.”

Clint chuckles at her, “I mean, you do realize that you’d have to do that when we got married right?” He can’t help but grin at the flush that crosses Darcy’s face when he mentions their nuptials. 

“Yeah, I know. I was just choosing not to think about it yet,” Darcy replies. 

“Well, how’s this.” Clint shuts off the car and opens the door, “I’ll help you pack this week while I’m still off. I’m a fast packer, it’ll go by in no time.” He’s out of the car and has both of their bags in his hand when he hears Darcy’s reply. 

“I think you’re underestimating the amount of shit I have, Barton.” The conversation lapses as Clint moves through the pre-flight procedures and Darcy settles into a plush leather seat in the cabin. Once they’re in the air Clint catches Darcy’s eye over his shoulder and beckons for her to come keep him company in the cockpit. 

“Darcy, it’s not that I’m underestimating the amount of items you have,” Clint says easily picking up their conversation from earlier. “It’s just that you’re overestimating the amount of stuff  _ I  _ have. Stark sent me the floor plan of our apartment and it would look comically empty with only my bow case and a single bookshelf on the wall.”

“Our apartment?” Darcy falters. 

“Darce,” Clint says as he looks over at her, “Were you really going to live in a separate apartment from me once you moved to New York?” He tries not to show the bit of worry he feels about his assumption but he doesn’t think he’s very successful.

Darcy just laughs and shrugs her shoulders, “I honestly hadn’t thought about it, Clint. Twenty-four hours ago I was a lab tech at Culver University who was dating a spy assassin”

“Former Spy Assassin,” Clint interjects. 

Darcy just waves her hand to dismiss his interruption. “Whatever. Now I’m engaged to an Avenger and moving to New York City. Give a girl a chance to process things, okay?”

Clint nods, “Okay, but you’re still going to move in with me right?” with only a trace of anxiety.

“Duh,” Darcy comments, “I’m nearly positive that your Avengers quarters are way nicer than whatever lab techs for the Avengers get.” The rest of their flight passes uneventfully and they land in Virginia in time for lunch and a lazy afternoon getting settled back into normal life. 


	3. All This Love Is Still Here

When Darcy got home from work the next day her living room was a maze of her things. “Clint?” she called out as she wove her way towards what should have been her couch but instead seemed to be a staging ground for wrapping fragile items.

“Over here,” he called to her from the corner where her first bookshelf sat - the one that held her most precious books. 

“This is impressive,” Darcy said as she eyed the taped and labeled boxes that were lining the back wall of the room. 

“Did you doubt me when I said I was a fast packer, Lewis?” His eyebrow moved up his forehead as he idly wondered if Darcy was going to keep her name or take his when they were married. Something to talk about later he figures, remembering that she’d asked for time to process. He doesn’t much care either way.

“Well, no, not exactly but I guess I just didn’t expect this much efficiency.” Darcy is surveying her living room and Clint can see the nervous energy ratcheting through her body. 

“Here, let me show you what I got done today,” Clint says as he stands from the floor and pulls her into a hug. When they separate he takes her hand and leads her to her bedroom where Darcy can see that the closet is almost entirely empty. “All of your off-season clothes are packed away. I also got your purses and your least practical shoes in boxes. And-” he says with a proud flourish, “There’s no longer a pile of abandoned socks hiding under your bed.”

“I, uh,” Darcy knows she should be more excited about not having to do all of this stuff herself, or at all from the speed that Clint is packing at, but instead she just feels exhausted and anxious looking at it all. “Why, exactly?”

Clint pauses and considers her like it should be obvious, “Because you don’t need those things in the next two weeks. The sheets and towels will be used for padding in more fragile boxes, so those can’t go up yet.”

Darcy shakes her head, “No, I mean- I asked the wrong question, sorry. Why are you doing this?”

“I told you I’d help you pack. You spend enough years with a traveling carnival and you learn a few things about packing, but I don’t have enough stuff to put the skills to use.” Clint had been so excited about all he’d accomplished during the day that he’d forgotten about the nerves that had settled into Darcy’s body like a second skin. Now that he’s remembered it’s like it’s slapping him in the face with how obviously anxious she is.

“Right. Yes. Okay,” Darcy says, but Clint can tell it’s more to reassure her than for him. “I’m sorry. I don’t mean to sound ungrateful, I just had a really busy day at work and wasn’t expecting this when I got home.” Darcy sits on her bed, the bitter part of her wants to comment on how it’s the only place to sit in her entire apartment right now, but she knows that’s mean and also not entirely true. 

Clint considers the tornado that is the living room and compares it to the immaculate room that was there when Darcy left this morning. The difference is alarming, particularly if you weren’t around while it was happening. He moves to sit on the bed next to her and puts an arm around her shoulders, pulling her to his chest. “I’m sorry, Darce. I probably should have talked to you about this first, huh?” She nods, the top of her head butting up against his chin. “How about this? You go take a long, hot shower while I make the boxes disappear and clean up the living room. When you’re done we’ll order takeout and catch up on Dog Cops?”

“Oh my god, that is exactly what I want right now,” Darcy groans as she wraps an arm around Clint in an awkward hug. “Can we get that Chinese place that always gives us the extra sugar donuts?”

Clint smiles, “Only if we get two orders of crab rangoon, I still haven’t forgiven you for eating all of them last time.”

“You’ve got a deal, Barton,” Darcy said as she stood up from the bed and made her way to the bathroom. “Oh, and Clint?” she called from the doorway.

“Yes?” he asked as he made his way towards the living room. 

“If you think I’m taking your last name, you’ve got another thing coming,” Darcy winked at him before shutting the door to the bathroom. 

Well, Clint thinks, that was easier than he had anticipated

~*~

When Darcy gets out of the shower her closet door is closed and there are no boxes in sight in the bedroom. She gets dressed slowly wanting to give Clint plenty of time to get her living space back in some semblance of order. After she’s stalled as long as she can Darcy leaves the bedroom she’s surprised to see Clint lounging on the couch with his feet propped on the coffee table. “That didn’t take you long,” Darcy says as she rounds the couch to sit down next to him. 

There are no boxes in the living room; the only evidence of the move is the small stack of flat boxes and a roll of packing tape. “I already ordered the food, I’ll go grab it in a minute.”

“Hey, Clint?” Darcy asks, turning to look him in the eye. “Thanks. I appreciate it.” The smile he gives her in return fills her with warmth and eases some of the anxiety she’s felt since she got home. 

“No problem, honey. Come here,” he says, grabbing her hand from her lap to gently pull her closer to him on the couch. “You still haven’t kissed me hello and I’m about to leave,” Clint teases before leaning down to kiss her. The kiss is brief but passionate when they separate Clint moves to leave. He stops before he reaches the door, “Hey, Darce, when I’m gone can you maybe think about what you would be okay with me packing up tomorrow?” 

“Sure thing,” Darcy smiles, glad that he’s still willing to help her after her earlier freakout. The fact that she has the illusion of control over the situation just means he understands the way she works even if he makes mistakes. 

Clint returns not long after, a paper sack filled with food in one hand and a bottle of wine in the other. He sets them down on the small kitchen table while Darcy goes to grab two cups from the cabinet - she’s never been fancy enough for real wine glasses - and a bundle of silverware. 

“Okay, so I started thinking about it,” Darcy says, pulling out a chair to sit down as Clint divvies out the food on the table and pours them both some wine. “I got about thirty seconds into considering what you could pack before I realized I have more questions than I have answers at this point.” She tears a crab rangoon in half and pops one half into her mouth. 

“What do you mean?” Clint asks. 

“Well, okay. So I was thinking you could probably go ahead and pack up most of my dishes, but then I realized I don’t even know if we’ll have our own kitchen. And then if we do have our own kitchen, will there be dishes and silverware provided?” Darcy pauses to finish the other half of fried crab. 

“I can check the floor plan Tony sent over to see about our own kitchen and ask him about the dishes if there is one,” Clint offers. 

Darcy’s eyes light up, “Would you? That’d be great.” She digs into the lo mein she always orders happily. 

“No problem.”

“Do you think you could also ask him about furniture?” Darcy adds. Clint’s face indicates that he’s unsure what she means so she elaborates. “Is it furnished? Do we have to bring our own bed? Ooooh,” she adds as a thought strikes her, “What about sheets? Do we have to provide those? Or towels?”

Darcy is met with a blank stare as Clint takes all of her questions in. He has to admit he hadn’t considered any of them before even though they all seem so obvious. “Maybe I should just call Tony instead.” He pulls out his phone and pulls up the email Tony had sent him a few days previously, loading the image then pushing it across the table to Darcy so she can see. “Small kitchenette, I’ll have to ask Tony about the dishes anyway.”

Darcy casts her gaze down to the floor plan in front of her. “I do like the size of that closet.” There’s a decent sized living area and a single bedroom with more than enough space for a large bed and dresser. A door from the bedroom opens into a large galley closet with another doorway at the end that leads to the bathroom.

They finish dinner while discussing how each of the current Avengers would decorate their own personal space in the Avengers tower if they were able too. After the plates were cleared and the leftovers put away Clint excused himself to call Tony, but before Darcy could settle herself on the couch he was back in the room with his phone on speakerphone in his hand. 

“...On the interior decorating. You can let her know anything you want in your little love nest, as it were, and she’ll take care of it,” a voice, Darcy assumed it was Tony’s, came from the phone.

Clint rolled his eyes before speaking, “Hey, Tony, you’re on speakerphone. Darcy’s in the room with me, she can ask her questions now.”

“Hit me with your best shot, Austen,” Tony bellows and Darcy has to fight back a grimace at the nickname. 

There are at least ten questions clamoring for priority in her head right now so Darcy is surprised when the first one that makes it out was one of seemingly lower priority to her. “Do we have to share a floor with someone? If so, who?”

“Two Avengers per floor and I’ve got you and Clint sharing a floor with Natasha right now,” Tony says, then miraculously shuts up. 

“What about things like sheets and towels?” Darcy asks, knowing that the apartment will be furnished already from what she heard when Clint had walked in the room. 

“All provided. As are televisions. There’s a common living room with access to roughly anything you could want to watch, a full gym, and a sauna.” Tony’s on a roll now, proud of the building he’s designed and provided for, and he continues to list out amenities and perks of living in the tower.

When they hang up the phone ten minutes later Darcy is flabbergasted. “Let me get this straight. I basically have to pack up my clothing and any personal belongings I want. Everything else is being provided for us? Including food?”

Clint is just as surprised as Darcy is, “That’s what it sounds like. Pinch me, am I dreaming?” Darcy reaches across the couch to tweak his nipple and Clint lets out a surprised moan. “Definitely awake, then.”

Darcy’s face falls slightly as she considers her next thought. “There’s something we should probably get out of the way while we’re this happy.”

“Oh? What’s that?” Clint asks. 

“We’ve got to tell my parents we’re engaged. And should you maybe tell Natasha?” Darcy asks. “Shit, I guess I also have to tell them I’m moving to New York City next week too, don’t I?”

Clint smiles at her, “Are you really concerned about telling your parents that we’re engaged? I was fairly certain your mom already considers me her son.”

“She does,” Darcy admits, “I just know that they’re going to be annoyingly excited for us. Mom is going to have twenty questions for me that I don’t have answers to yet. What about Natasha? How do you think she’ll take it?”

Clint shrugs, “Natasha isn’t one to want to be tied down too much, so marriage has never really been her thing. She’ll be happy for us, I’m sure, but that’s about it.” Clint tucks a piece of hair behind Darcy’s ear, “Why don’t we go ahead and call your parents? Put them on speakerphone, we can tell them together.”

Darcy smiles while she pulls her phone from her back pocket, “You just want to hear Mom call you ‘my boy’, admit it.”

Clint smirks, “Feels good to hear even if she’s not my mom.” 

Darcy dials the phone, turns on the speakerphone and sets it on the couch between them. 

“Darcy?” her mother answers the phone. “How was your vacation? Am I going to be a grandmother soon?”

Darcy turns bright red while Clint struggles to hold in a burst of laughter. “Mom, you’re on speakerphone. Clint’s sitting right next to me.”

“Oh, Clint!” Darcy’s mother coos, “How’s my boy doing?”

“I’m good, Mrs. Lewis. Thanks for asking,” Clint replies. 

“Now Clint, you know I’ve told you to call me Betsy already,” she says and both of them can envision her shaking her finger at him through the phone. “Now tell me all about your vacation. I still can’t believe Tony Stark lent you his house!”

“It was just a two bedroom cabin, Mom,” Darcy says, already annoyed by her mother's enthusiasm for everything.

“Please, Darce,” Clint says with a smile, “Like Tony Stark has a ‘just’ anything.”

“Thank you, Clint! That’s my point exactly. I’ll bet those two bedrooms were mighty extravagant.”

Clint places a hand on Darcy’s leg and rubs a soothing pattern across her thigh until she relaxes some. “They were definitely that, Mom,” she concedes. 

“Anyway,” Clint says, “The cabin was excellent. It was situated right on a cozy little river with a nice fire pit and bench swing to sit on in the evening. We quite enjoyed ourselves.”

“Well, that’s certainly good to hear,” Betsy says. “Oh, Darcy your father just came in the room do you want me to put him on?”

“Oh,” Clint says quickly, “Mis-Betsy, do you think you could just put your phone on speaker so we can talk to you both?”

Darcy tenses beneath Clint’s hand and he squeezes it to reassure her. A moment later they can hear the gruff voice of Darcy’s father, “Hey there, kiddo.”

“Hey, Daddy,” Darcy smiles at the name he rarely uses for her anymore. 

“Your mom told me you just got back from a vacation? How -”

“They were just telling me about it when you came in,” Betsy interrupts. 

“Yes,” Clint speaks up, “I was just telling her about the bench swing down by the river at the back of the cabin. At night you could see so many stars. It was almost as beautiful as your daughter.” Clint ducks as Darcy makes to slap the back of his head playfully. 

“Darcy,” Betsy calls over the rustle of their play wrestling“You leave my boy alone. He’s just sweet on you is all.”

“I know, Mom,” Darcy replies, rolling her eyes. 

“Mr. Lewis,” Clint is all business now, whereas moments ago he was grinning like a maniac. “I, uh, hope you don’t mind that I didn’t do things the traditional way.” Darcy’s mother lets out a barely contained squeal of excitement. “While we were on vacation I asked Darcy to marry me.”

“I knew it!” cries Darcy’s mother as her father utters, “Congratulations.”

The tension eases from Clint’s body then he shifts on the couch to smile at Darcy and shrug as if to say see, no big deal. “Thank you, Betsy, Mr. Lewis.”

“Oh, please,” Betsy cries, “You’re part of the family now, just call us Mom and Dad.” 

Clint doesn’t know how to respond to that, hasn’t had anyone to call Mom or Dad since he was a small child, so he’s thankful when Darcy’s mother starts in on a barrage of questions. 

“Oh, Darcy! You have to tell me everything. Where did he do it? How did he ask? What does the ring look like? Oh! You’ve got to send me pictures!” There’s hardly a pause for breath before she continues, “Do you know when you’re going to have the wedding? What kind of dress do you want to wear? Is your sister going to be your matron of honor? It’s appropriate, you know.”

Darcy is slack-jawed and staring at her phone so she hardly notices Clint take his phone out of his pocket and press a few buttons before setting it down on the coffee table in front of them. “Mom, I don’t know. We got engaged right before we came back home. We weren’t even on the airplane yet when Jane called to tell me that we’re moving the lab to New York City.”

There’s another squeal of excitement before another volley of questions. Darcy provides all the answers she has about where she’ll be living in New York City. It’s another five minutes of family updates and congratulations before Darcy can hang up the phone. 

“Whew,” Darcy groans, “That was exhausting. Do we have to call Natasha now?”

“Nah,” Clint smiles. “I already told her.”

“You did not text your best friend and partner that we got engaged,” Darcy deadpans. 

“That’s where you’re wrong. That’s exactly what I did,” Clint grins and picks up his phone from the coffee table. “Oh, look. She replied.  _ I will not wear a tux. We already know I’m your best woman.  _ I think she’s fine with it, Darcy.”

They spend the rest of the night watching Dog Cops in pajamas on the couch. Darcy couldn’t be happier.

~*~

Three days later Clint gets a phone call as he’s boxing up the last of Darcy’s books. They’d agreed on what he could pack and what he could bring to a donation center each evening. Now that Darcy had some semblance of control, not to mention an idea of what was going on, she felt a lot better about the entire process. Especially the part where she didn’t have to do any of the packing or heavy lifting. 

“Yeah,” Clint says into his phone as a greeting. 

“Birdbrains, how’s it going?” Tony asks and Clint can hear the smirk on the man’s face. 

“Packing up Darcy’s books, why?” he asks as he folds the box flaps down to secure them. 

Clint can hear Tony fiddling with something in the background and waits patiently for Tony to continue. “Pepper and I were thinking, why don’t you and your lady come up to the tower tomorrow evening and stay for the weekend?”

“Her name is Darcy, Tony” Clint replies, tone firm. 

“Right. Darcy. Anyway, I can have a pilot come and pick you up say around 6?”

Clint considers Tony’s offer carefully, “I’ll have to check with Darcy before I can confirm.”

“Get back to me,” Tony says, then as an afterthought, “Do you want me to have a truck sent tomorrow morning for the boxes you’ve got packed already? No, wait, you have to check with Darcy.” The line goes dead before Clint can reply, which is probably for the best. 

Ten minutes later Clint sends Tony a text message, “Yes on all accounts, see you tomorrow.”

~*~

When they reach the airport the next evening there’s a larger plane than they took to Colorado waiting for them. “Mr. Stark says this was the closest available plane for the journey and sends his regards,” the pilot said to them as he greeted them and took their small bags. 

Tony, true to his word, had sent a van to Darcy’s address the next morning just after 9. The van also included a team of three men, so combined with Clint they had all of the boxes Darcy had agreed to release packed before lunchtime. The van would likely beat them to the tower where the men had said they’d unload the boxes into their new apartment for them. 

“After you,” Clint said as he gestured towards the stairs leading up to the plane. Once inside, Darcy found a row of leather seats situated in front of a large projector screen. Towards the back of the plane, there was a short hallway with two doors on either side and what looked to be a small kitchen at the very back. 

“Nice digs,” Clint commented as he walked towards the hallway and opened one of the doors. “Bathroom,” he said before closing the door and turning around to open the door behind him. “Bedroom. Hmm,” Clint smiled. “Hey, Darcy? Didn’t you say something about the mile high club?”

“I thought you said it wasn’t all it was cracked up to be?” Darcy asked as she joined Clint in the small bedroom. “Anyway, isn’t half the fun of it the thrill of almost getting caught?”

Clint stares at her for a moment, collecting his words carefully. “First - when I said that it wasn’t all it was cracked up to be, I just didn’t want you to be upset we weren’t going to do it. Second - maybe for some people the thrill is because it’s taboo or they’re going to get caught. But the airplane also vibrates at a low speed which others find to be pleasurable if you know what to do. Third, and finally - are you really turning down sex with me in a private plane with the pilot twenty feet and two closed doors away from us?”

“Hold on there, Buckaroo. No said anything about turning down sex, I was just asking,” Darcy says innocently. 

“So you’re not turning me down?” Clint asks. 

“Are you kidding me? This will be the best way to enter the club ever! No squished uncomfortable sex in a weird airplane bathroom where neither of us can stand up straight. We don’t have to do that awkward pause and wait before walking back to our seats.” Darcy’s eyes have lit up as she’s talking like it’s not just sex on an airplane she’s talking about. 

The corner of Clint’s mouth ticks up in a wicked grin, “Okay. Well, we’ll probably want to wait until a bit after we’ve gotten in the air to start anything. It’s a short flight to New York City. Why don’t you go make some coffee? I want to make sure the pilot knows what he’s doing.” Clint presses a kiss to her lips as his hand squeezes at her ass. 

Darcy is a coffee brewing champion so even when faced with the strange airplane coffee maker, she’s got a small pot ready to go when Clint returns five minutes later. “How long until wheels up?” she asks, handing him a steaming paper cup. 

Clint shrugs his shoulders some, “About twenty minutes. Pilot seems passable, I think we’ll make it.”

Twenty minutes later they’ve finished their coffee and have buckled into the large leather seats towards the front of the plane. Clint takes Darcy’s hand, his thumb reaching down to rub soft circles on the inside of her wrist. As soon as the plane begins to rotate towards the runway Clint drops her hand to place his on her knee next to him.  His thumb keeps up the circles - now on the soft flesh of the inside of her knee. The moment the plane begins to move forward he begins to slowly push his hand up her thigh somehow timing the speed to match the plane as it speeds towards take off. 

“I’m so glad you’re wearing a skirt,” Clint says into her ear before taking the lobe into his mouth and nibbling. “Makes what I’ve got in mind easier.”

“Oh?” Darcy asks, breathily. “And what exactly is that?”

The front wheels of the plane lift off of the runway as Clint’s fingers reach Darcy’s damp panties and duck inside. As the plane climbs higher so do Clint’s fingers until they are finally circling her clit, eliciting soft moans from Darcy’s mouth. “Did you really need to ask?” Clint says as he kisses her through a louder groan, finger rubbing softly over the swollen nub. 

Darcy could swear she had a response to that, but she was too lost in the sensations of Clint’s hand between her legs and his mouth on her neck to speak. The plane was still gaining altitude and Clint’s hand was increasing the attention on her slick flesh. Just before the pilot came on the overhead speaker to announce it was safe to roam about the cabin, Darcy let out a high pitched moan, shaking apart against Clint’s hand. 

Clint unbuckled his seat belt and turned towards Darcy in his seat. “Ready for more?” he asked with a gleam in his eye. 

“Yeah,” Darcy smiled softly at him, “Just give me another minute to sit here before you make me move.” 

Clint took her hand in his and rubbed soothing circles on her soft flesh, “Whenever you’re ready.”

A moment passed before Darcy shuffled, unbuckled her seat belt and stood up. “Let’s get this show on the road,” she said, walking back towards the bedroom without sparing a glance at Clint. 

By the time he reached the doorway of the room Darcy had stripped down to nothing, her clothing laying in a pile on the floor. “You’re not wasting any time, are you, Honey?” Clint closed the door shut behind him and clicked the lock shut just in case. 

“Virginia to New York isn’t a very long flight, Mister,” Darcy replied as she walked slowly up to him. “Why waste time with clothes when we could be naked?” Her hands went to the waistband of his pants, working the button and zipper in quick succession. 

“I like where your head is at, Lewis,” Clint said as he shucked his shirt off and onto the pile of clothes on the floor. He kicked off his shoes and toed out of his pants as he walked Darcy backwards towards the bed. 

“Really? Cause I thought you might like it better down here,” she said as she maneuvered him around to sit on the bed and knelt between his legs. 

“Fuck,” was all Clint managed to say before Darcy took his half-hard cock in her hands and began working up the shaft with her mouth. His hands went to the back of her head, one of them carding through her hair to hold the crown of her head in his hands, while the other trailed down her shoulder before finally coming to a rest on top of her breast. 

Darcy opened her mouth and angled her head to take in as much of Clint’s hardened cock as she could, reveling in the feel of him thick and hot against her tongue. He tweaked her nipple and she moaned against him. Between the vibrations from her mouth and the low hum of the plane as it moved through the air, a rush of pleasure surged through his body. She swallowed against his cock and he could feel his head bumping up against the back wall of her throat. “Darcy,” he moaned, “C’mon up. I’m not going to last like this.” 

Darcy reluctantly backed away from Clint, tongue lovingly stroking up his shaft as she pulled away. She swirled her tongue around his swollen head once more for good measure before letting it fall from her mouth with an audible pop. She was on her feet again, legs straddling Clint’s beside the bed in no time. “Scoot back,” she said huskily. 

Clint lifted his hips and shuffled backwards on the bed, stopping once he reached the headboard. Darcy scrambled up the mattress next to him before arcing one leg over his lap and coming to rest straddling his groin. “Ready?” he asked her softly as he reached down between them to position himself. 

“So ready,” Darcy said breathily as she sunk down onto him, slick walls eager to accept him. She placed her hands on his chest and moved tentatively against him, a soft moan escaping her lips. 

“God you feel good, baby,” Clint said as she rolled her hips against his. “You’re so good for me, so wet and ready.” He reached one hand up to tweak at her nipple, praising words spilling from his mouth, as his other hand sought out her slick nub.           

Darcy leans back on her hands to change the angle, breath coming faster as Clint’s hands grip her thighs to control the speed she’s thrusting down at. The change in position drives him right into her g-spot and he can feel Darcy’s walls beginning to quake around him and knows his own release won’t be too far after hers. 

“Jesus, fuck, Clint,” Darcy pants as she slouches down against his chest, muscles loose from her orgasm. “That was amazing.”

“Sorry I lied to you about the mile high club,” Clint said into Darcy’s scalp, one hand lazily rubbing down her side. 

“You can make it up to me by never being the pilot when we fly somewhere again. I demand a repeat performance for every trip,” Darcy said with a grin. 

“Deal,” came Clint’s response. “But for now we should probably get cleaned up and try and look presentable. I doubt it will take long for Tony to figure out we debauched his plane, but I’d rather him figure it out after we’ve settled in.” 

~*~

When they arrive at the tower Pepper Potts is waiting for them in the lobby of the building. “Clint, it’s good to see you again!” She leans in for a quick hug before turning to Darcy, “Miss Lewis, I’m so happy to meet you.” Pepper offers Darcy her hand and then leads them towards a small bank of elevators. “These elevators are locked down with biometric security, only Avengers, and associated personnel will be allowed access to them. The rest of the elevators in the building do not go to the top floors which house the Avengers Initiative living and working areas.”

The elevator ride is faster than any other that Darcy has ever been on in her life. When the doors open they are faced with a small alcove with a door on either side. “JARVIS,” Pepper calls, “Which room is Clint and Darcy’s?”

A disembodied voice comes from hidden speakers somewhere and Darcy tries not to jump. “The door on the left, Miss Potts.”

Pepper must have noticed the confused look on Darcy’s face because she begins to explain as she moves towards the door on the left of the alcove. “JARVIS is the AI Tony built. He helps to run the tower and is available in all of the Avengers Initiative spaces. If you have any questions or need anything, you can always ask him. Isn’t that right, JARVIS?” Pepper calls out, now standing in what is to be Clint and Darcy’s living room. 

“That is correct Miss Potts. Miss Lewis, it is a pleasure to make your acquaintance. Please do not hesitate to ask me anything.” 

“You’re going to regret that, JARVIS,” Clint says as he smirks at Darcy. She smiles at him but is clearly more interested in the solid wall of bookshelves lining the back wall of the living area. 

“This is incredible,” Darcy says as she looks to Pepper. There’s a small kitchenette -a double burner with a small refrigerator and the tiniest oven Darcy has ever seen. Still, Darcy can tell the appliances are all top of the line and if this is what their kitchen is like she can’t wait to see the main one.

Pepper smiles at her, “I’m glad you like it, Miss Lewis.”

“Darcy, please. Miss Lewis makes me feel like I’m back in elementary school.”

“Well then, Darcy,” Pepper says with a small nod, “Let me show you to your bedroom.”

Pepper finishes giving them a tour of their private living spaces then takes them to the common living floor to meet up with Tony. He takes over the tour from there, showing off the high tech living room (does anyone really need that many gaming consoles?), the kitchen and pantry, before insisting he drag Clint down to the training level to show off the simulation room he’s built for Avengers training. 

There’s a pause of silence between Darcy and Pepper when the men have left their presence and Darcy fights down the feeling of awkwardness. It’s only awkward if you make it awkward, she reminds herself. “Thank you for inviting Clint and me for the weekend,” Darcy says and privately thinks of how proud her mother would be of her for keeping up her manners when she’s internally flipping her shit.

“Of course,” Pepper smiles. “Can I get you anything? Water? Wine?”

“Wine would be great, actually,” Darcy admits. 

Pepper leads her to wear a wet bar is set into the wall of the living room and pours them both a glass of wine (in a proper wine glass no less). “I noticed you had a lot of questions about the living arrangements and thought a visit might help.”

Darcy smiles, “You’re not wrong.”

“My brother has a hard time with new situations. Do you remember in school how you could go in before the semester started to meet your teachers?” When Darcy nods pepper continues, “He used to walk the route between his classes at least five times before we could leave. Knowing exactly where he needed to go with contingency plans in place helped him a lot.

“Tony has outfitted every level of the living spaces with comfort and security in mind. I’d rather you come visit before you’ve officially moved in than have you move in with doubts.” Pepper finishes her explanation around the same time Tony and Clint arrive back in the living room. 

The rest of the night goes smoothly. Darcy thinks she’s going to like living here.

~*~

“Hey, Pepper?” Darcy asks over the breakfast table the next morning. “Do you think you could arrange to have a coffee maker put in our apartment?” Clint and Tony both let out a short laugh. “I know it’s not necessary, but I don’t want to have to get fully dressed just to get a cup of coffee every morning.”

Pepper smiles sweetly at her, “I’m positive that can be arranged, Darcy.”

“Thanks,” Darcy smiles before taking a bite of her omelette. Tony had a professional chef brought in for the weekend because he’s Tony Stark and nothing is too much for him. Darcy has never had a better omelette in her life. 

“What’s that?” Tony asks, reaching a hand out to grab at Darcy’s hand as it rests on the table. 

The tops of Clint’s ears flush as Tony inspects the engagement ring on Darcy’s finger. It’s nowhere near as grand as something Tony would have purchased and he’s strangely self-conscious about the man's judgement. “I proposed,” Clint says by way of explanation. “Last week at your cabin, actually.”

“Congratulations!” Pepper says happily before leaning over towards Tony to admire Darcy’s ring. “The ring is beautiful. Did you help pick it out?” she looks to Darcy for an answer. 

It’s Darcy’s turn to blush from all of the attention, “No, he surprised me with it, but I love it. It’s just right.” She pulls her hand from Tony’s grasp and the self-consciousness Clint was feeling fades away when he hears Darcy’s admission. 

“Well, good job, Clint,” Pepper nods in his direction. “Have you made any plans yet?”

“Not really, no,” Darcy admits. “We’ve really only told my family, Natasha, and now you guys.”

“I know of some good wedding planners if you need any help,” Pepper says. “Just let me know!” 

Darcy remembers the litany of questions her mother had for her when they were on the phone and can only imagine the impossible questions a wedding planner would have for her. “Definitely,” is the only thing Darcy can think to say in response. 

“Shortstack,” Tony calls to Darcy, changing the subject. “You ever been to The City before?”

“I came on a field trip when I was 13, but that’s the only time,” she admits. 

“Thirteen? On a school field trip?” Tony asks incredulously, “That’s no way to experience touristy New York, Darcy. JARVIS,” Tony calls, “Execute plan 21 and up.” He glances at his watch, “Let’s say with a start time of 1 pm?”

“Yes, Sir,” the AI replies. 

“Tony?” Pepper is giving him a Look. 

“What? Lunch at Robert Restaurant, then I figure a stroll through the more sordid parts of Central Park. Dinner at Sardi’s and tickets to a show.”

“Twenty-one and up?” Darcy asks for the entire table. 

Tony just grins, “Did I forget to mention the alcohol? There will be lots of alcohol. We’re going to see a musical about Mormonism.” Tony pushes himself away from the table and stands, “Meet down here at 12:30.” He leaves the room before anyone can ask him another question. 

“Don’t look at me,” Pepper says before following him out of the room. 

~*~

When they’re back in their rooms -  _ their  _ rooms, Darcy still can’t quite believe it - they collapse in the bed and stare at each other. Their boxes had been delivered to their room and placed along an empty wall in the living room, waiting to be unpacked. “I know we should deal with the boxes,” Clint says, voice muffled where his mouth is pressed into the pillow. “But now that we’ve got a whole day planned for us I just don’t feel like it.”

“We can do it tomorrow,” Darcy suggests as she kicks off her slippers and moves closer to Clint. 

“I like that idea,” Clint moves to lay on his back and pulls Darcy to him. “Hey, did you have any thoughts about the wedding?” Clint asks, one hand lazily tracing patterns on her arm. 

“Not really, no. I was never the girl who dreamed of a wedding, I didn’t really want to set an expectation for myself that I couldn’t reach.”

“Really?” Clint asks, “Not even dreaming of marrying a prince as a little girl?”

“Nah, too busy designing sand castles to worry about who lived inside of them,” Darcy smiles and presses a kiss to Clint’s chest. 

Clint grins at the mental picture of a younger Darcy building castles out of sand. “I’m glad I’m marrying you,” he replies. There’s a pause before he continues,  “I don’t really have any family or many friends to invite to a wedding. Natasha and the rest of the team are it really. Coulson, I guess.”

“Yeah,” Darcy says, “I’d be okay with a pretty small wedding. Just my family and the team and I and you would be great.”

“That sounds perfect,” he presses a kiss to the top of her head. There are more things to work out with their wedding, but now really isn’t the time he feels like discussing it. “How much time do you think you’ll need to get ready for today?”

“I dunno, thirty minutes or so?” 

“JARVIS,” Clint calls, “Set an alarm for 11:45 am please.”

“Of course, Mr. Barton. Is there anything else?”

“Yes, actually. Can you turn off the lights and close the blinds? That’ll be all.” The room darkens as Clint pulls a blanket over the top of them so they can rest until their busy day gets started. 

~*~

By the time Tony’s driver, Happy, came to pick up Darcy on Sunday evening she and Clint had finished unpacking all of the boxes that had been sent up from her apartment in Virginia, as well as the two lone boxes of books of Clint’s that he found in a SHIELD storage locker somewhere. 

“Well, this is strange,” Clint said as he picked up the small bag of luggage Darcy had brought with her for the weekend. 

“What’s that?” Darcy asked as she began to follow him out of their bedroom and towards the front door of their quarters. 

“You’re the one leaving this time, not me,” Clint smiled and turned to kiss her at the door. 

“Hmm, you’re right,” Darcy grinned as she took her bag from his hands and placed the strap on her shoulder. “See you later, alligator,” she winked. 

“Hey! That’s my line,” Clint replies with mock indignation. 

“I’m the one leaving this time,” Darcy reminds him. 

“Yeah, well,” Clint shuffles his feet, anything to take up a little more time. “You’ll call me when you get back to your apartment safe?”

“Of course,” Darcy says, rolling her eyes. 

“Okay. Well,” Clint says leaning in closer to her personal space. “After a while, crocodile,” he whispers before pressing a kiss to her kips.


	4. I Still See Your Shade Everywhere

It’s Wednesday night and Darcy has spent the past nine hours helping Jane pack up lab equipment. “Seriously, Barton. I’ve never been more grateful for your mad Circus Boy packing skills than I have been right now. I’m pretty sure there are still packing peanuts nested in my hair somewhere. I think they’re going to be taking up residence soon.”

Clint laughs, “That’s a sight I’d like to see.”

“Admit it, you just want to see me looking ridiculous.”

“Aw, Darcy. I always want to see you, packing peanut hairstyle or not.” Darcy can hear Clint’s smirk over the phone. 

“Careful, Clint. A girl could get used to hearing things like that.” Darcy kept her tone light, but internally her arms were flailing. She’d never come this close to admitting to Clint how much she missed him when he was on missions. 

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Nothing,” Darcy mutters as she casts her eyes around her bare apartment for anything that would change the subject. 

“Darcy.”

“Clint.”

“You do realize I’m a sniper and can wait you out on this, right?” Darcy sighs heavily into the phone and Clint knows she’ll break soon. 

“Just because I know you’ll win doesn’t mean I can’t put up a good fight, bud.” Darcy steels herself to tell Clint how she feels, hoping it doesn’t screw things up for them. “I guess, I just…The past three days getting to talk and text with you even though you aren’t here with me. It just really puts things into perspective, for me. I miss you so much when you’re gone.”

“Yeah,” Clint says a little morosely, “I miss you a lot too. Sometimes when I’m running ops I think I see you on a street somewhere.”

“Really?” Darcy asks, she’s never heard this before. 

“Yeah. It always takes me a second to get my bearings again. Natasha gives me shit for it when she catches me.”

“Wow,” Darcy replies, “This is rapidly changing my perception of reality, Clint.” 

“Um,” Clint says, trying not to sound confused. “How exactly?”

There’s a long moment of silence before Darcy speaks again. She’s spent actual years of her life with this man and yet somehow never addressed this with him. Now that she has to talk to him about how much this affects her it seems superfluous for her to have hidden it for so long. “It’s hard sending a text message every morning and never getting a response. I mean, I know the reasons why and I know you do message me as soon as you can. It’s just...hard.”

“Yeah, I can imagine,” Clint says before waiting for her to continue. 

“I guess I’ve just always assumed that when you aren’t with me you don’t think about me at all,” Darcy finally says. She feels like a weight has been lifted off her shoulders and a tornado has started in her stomach all at once. 

“Aw, Darcy, no,” Clint sighs. “You’re the first and last thing I think of every day I’m gone.”

“Oh,” comes Darcy’s quiet reply. 

The line stays silent for longer than Clint would like, “You still with me, Darce?”

“Yeah,” she says, just as quietly before clearing her throat. “Yes,” this time there’s more force behind it. “It just would have been nice to know that before now, I guess.”

Clint lets out a heavy sigh. He’d give anything to be able to hug Darcy right now. “I’m sorry,” he says into the phone even though he knows it’s not quite enough. “I should have been better about letting you know.”

“Hey, Clint?” Darcy asks. “Quit beating yourself up over there, I could have told you a year or so ago and I didn’t.”

“So we’re both idiots in this one?” Clint asks. 

“Sure seems like it.”

~*~

Darcy’s poking at her salad in the almost entirely packed lab. She’s not hungry, not really. There are too many about-to-be-moving jitters fluttering through her system, not to mention she’s having a really hard time not being able to physically reassure herself that she and Clint are okay after their conversation the night before. She’s in the middle of replaying the conversation in her head when her phone rings. 

“Were your ears itching?” She asks by way of an answer. 

“Oh?” comes Clint’s quick response, “You were thinking of me?”

“Sure was, what’s up?” Darcy gives up on her salad and tosses it in the trash can next to her desk. 

“Oh, nothing,” Clint says and Darcy can hear his mischievous grin through the phone. “I just had some good news to share and I didn’t want to wait.”

“Oooh,” Darcy coos, “I like good news. Shoot!”

“Well,” Clint says dragging out the word. “I was talking to Tony about how much it sucks that I can’t talk to you while I’m out.” 

Darcy is trying hard not to be mortified that Tony Stark knows about her relationship problems, but she’s failing. “I can’t believe you told him about that.”

“Yeah, well, you’re gonna be glad in a minute so hush up,” Clint admonishes. “Apparently now that I’m not just an agent of SHIELD I’m allowed a little more equipment with me on missions.”

“Oh?” Darcy’s interest is now highly piqued. 

“Yep. Still can’t have a cell phone with me, but I will have an Avengers communication unit with me in case there’s a call to assemble.”

“Okay?” Darcy can’t see how this is good news for her, but she’s sure that Clint will get there eventually. 

“JARVIS will be installed on the Avengers unit,” Clint adds. 

“I’m still not getting this, Barton. Spell it out for me.”

“Oh, yeah, I guess you aren’t as used to JARVIS’ abilities yet. So,” Clint pauses, “JARVIS can pass messages between us pretty easily. The team has been using him as a messaging service for a few months now.”

“Okay, but that still doesn’t take away the danger of a device going off when you could be compromised,” Darcy argues.

“Tony went into some long technical explanation that I didn’t really understand so I definitely can’t explain it to you, but essentially J-Man will be able to determine when I’m in a safe location or not and can push messages through at the appropriate time.”

“Are you in the room with Tony right now?” Darcy asks.

“No, I came back to our apartment, why?”

“Oh, nothing. If you were in the same room as him I’d ask you to kiss him for me, but I guess that’ll have to wait,” Darcy smiles. 

There’s a snort of derision from Clint, “You don't seriously expect me to kiss Stark, do you?”

“Well it can just be a peck on the cheek... Unless you wanted it to be more than that,” Darcy laughs. 

“Oh? I didn’t know you were into that,” Clint replies, filing the information away for possible use later. 

“I mean, I’ve never done it before but I’m certainly not opposed.” The fact that Darcy’s grinning and there’s a blush on her cheeks is evidence to the fact that she’s telling the truth; Clint can hear the smile in her voice.

“Got it. We’ll table that discussion for now, but it’s good to know. Maybe it’ll be handy in the future,” Clint smirks. “Anyway, I’ve got to go get ready for another training session, I just wanted to share the good news.”

“Okay, thanks! I’ll see you-”

“In two days!” Clint finishes the sentence for her. Nah, neither of them were looking forward to Saturday (moving day!) or anything. 

~*~

Saturday comes too soon and not soon enough for Darcy who has spent the better part of this week either packing up lab equipment with Jane or finding places to donate her stuff too. There is a shelter two blocks away that happily takes all of her dishes and utensils, but the furniture proved to be more difficult given that she couldn’t move it herself. 

Salvation comes in the form of Stark Industries moving men on Saturday morning. They had already loaded up a van with all of the lab equipment and secured it down, now it was time to get any of Darcy’s belongings from her apartment. Thankfully she and Clint had already done most of that work, the only things left were the clothes she needed for the week and a few toiletries. When the moving crew arrived she directed them towards her old furniture and asked them to move it to the empty parking lot by the building. 

When all of the furniture is gone Darcy makes a quick sign “Free to a Good Home” and meets Jane at the front of the building for their long drive to New York City. Darcy’s car was a clunker but she was certain it could make the long trek. 

Seven and a half hours later Darcy and Jane were finally (finally!) pulling into the parking garage attached to Avengers Tower. There was already a team of men unloading the truck that had left shortly before them that morning and before Darcy could unbuckle her seat belt Jane was out of the car dictating how to carefully handle her precious machines. 

“Hey, you,” came a familiar voice from right beside Darcy’s open car door. 

Darcy turned to look at Clint and smiled up at him from her seat, “Hey yourself.”

“Do you have anything in that truck over there, or can we just go straight upstairs?” Clint asks, motioning back towards the moving van where Jane is still giving out orders. 

“Nope, I just have the bag in my trunk and that’s it. Thank you, again, by the way. Seriously this week would have been miserable if I had to pack my stuff too.”

“Hey, Darcy? You can stop thanking me for packing your stuff. I get it, you appreciate it,” Clint says but there’s more smile than snark. He moves to the back of the car and taps on the trunk for Darcy to pop it. 

“I know, I just...I still feel bad for freaking out on you. I promise I’ll stop now though, okay?” Darcy says as she gets out of the car and meets Clint at the front of it. 

“That’s good, cause now is when I’m going to force you into the elevator so I can kiss you in private.” Darcy has no complaints about this plan and follows Clint to the elevator quickly. 

As soon as the door closes behind them Clint drops her bag and pushes her up against the wall of the moving vehicle. “Christ, I missed you,” Clint whispers into Darcy’s ear before taking her lips with his. Darcy is opening her mouth to his tongue when the elevator stops on their floor and she moans when he pulls away from her. 

“I missed you, too,” Darcy says as she follows him out of the elevator and into their apartment. She means to start kissing him again immediately but falters just through the threshold. “Holy shit,” she says. Pepper had come through with the coffee situation in a major way. 

There on the small kitchen counter was a top of the line coffee maker, a collection of whole beans from the best local roasters, and a coffee grinder. “Clint, I may never leave our apartment again,” Darcy said as she stroked the top of the coffee maker lovingly. 

“Mmm, not that I’d mind,” Clint says as he wraps an arm around her from behind, “But I’d like it better if you were stroking me like that.”

“Not before a cup of coffee and a shower,” Darcy says, already beginning to open one of the bags of whole beans and start the brewing process. “I just drove for almost 8 hours, I am gross.”

“I wasn’t going to say anything, but. . .” Clint trails off with a grin.

Darcy presses the final button the brewing machine and it whirls to life, a digital display showing the time remaining until the pot will be finished. She turns to face Clint with her lips quirked in a smile, “Well, I was going to see if you wanted to join me in the shower, but if you’re going to be an ass you’re not welcome.”

“Aw, Darcy, no!” Clint replies, one hand creeping down her back to squeeze her ass while he deftly begins walking them towards the bedroom. Darcy goes willingly, but then again Clint’s hands on her hips always did something to her. 

~*~

After their shower there’s a full pot of coffee waiting for them, the smell of the freshly brewed pot wafts in from the open door to their bedroom. Darcy hangs her towel up then walks into their small kitchen for two mugs of coffee, returning to the bedroom unashamed of her nakedness. 

“I’ve gotta hand it to you, honey,” Clint smiles as he takes the mug of coffee from her, “You were definitely right about getting a coffee pot for the apartment. Can we always have naked coffee?”

“Let’s save naked coffee for the weekend and special occasions?” Darcy asks as she sets down her mug on the dresser. “Like now, when you spent twenty minutes distracting me from my shower and now we have to be down in the common area for dinner in ten minutes.”

“Are you complaining?” Clint calls from the closet.

“Hardly. But you have to admit that it’s left us a little bit rushed.” 

“All part of my master plan,” Clint says as he pulls a shirt over his head and walks back into the bedroom. “You can’t freak out about meeting Steve and Bruce if you’re too busy rushing to get dressed.”

Darcy grimaced as she got dressed, “I can’t say I like your methods, Barton, but they’re effective.” 

When they go to catch the elevator to the common floor, Natasha is already waiting at the alcove. “Hey, neighbor,” Darcy smiles at the redhead before leaning in for a brief hug.

“I’m glad to see you’re living here,” Natasha says as she steps into the waiting elevator car. “You’ll be able to help me get Clint back for switching out my practice knives with fake ones.”

“Oh my god,” Clint groans while Darcy is turning to him with a questioning gaze. “I have got to hear that story,” she says.

The elevator zips them down to the common floor where there’s a small gathering of people in the entryway. “Darcy!” Pepper calls out to her from where she stands in the middle of a cluster of people. “How was your drive?” she asks when Darcy reaches her.

“Long and boring, but nothing a cup of excellent coffee couldn’t help. Thank you so much,” Darcy smiles. “That coffee maker is what dreams are made of.”

“Of course, it was no problem,” Pepper smiles. “Have you met Steve?” she asks, gesturing towards the tall, muscled blonde standing next to her. 

“I haven’t, no,” Darcy replies, glad for the reassuring weight of Clint’s hand on the small of her back. 

“Nice to meet you,” Steve offers his hand to Darcy with a shy smile. Darcy had refused to believe Clint when he’d said that Captain America was shy, but here he was blushing and trying not to make eye contact with her. 

“Hi, Steve,” Darcy smiles. “You’re a lot taller than I thought you’d be,” she says idly trying to make conversation. 

“I still forget how tall I am some days,” he admits sheepishly.

The group makes their way into the dining room where the table has been set. Tony is already at the bar mixing up a pitcher of drinks for everyone. There’s a small lull in conversation as they all get situated around the table. A bell tone signals that another person has arrived and before Darcy can figure out who is missing, Bruce steps through the door. 

“Here,” Tony says attempting to hand Bruce a glass of whatever alcoholic beverage he’s mixed up. “Welcome to the party.”

“Uh, no thanks,” Bruce says, turning down the drink and waving to the occupants of the room. “I’m going to go make myself some tea, I’ll be right back.” Before anyone has a chance to acknowledge him Bruce ducks into the kitchen. 

Darcy turns to look at Clint who is seated next to her with an arm on her shoulder. “What was that about?” she asks quietly. 

Tony hears her, though, and doesn’t miss the opportunity to rib on his teammate. “Bruce is anti-alcohol. Anti caffeine. Anti anything fun, really.”

“Hey,” they can hear the scientist calling from the kitchen before he shows himself in the doorway. “I don’t think you want to pay for the damage I’ll do if I Hulk out in your tower, do you?”

“Touche,” comes Tony’s reply before Bruce disappears again. 

A few moments later Bruce returns with a steaming mug of tea and takes the empty seat across from Darcy. “Hi,” he says immediately, “You must be Dr. Foster’s assistant. Darcy, right?” Darcy is immediately charmed.

“I am, yes,” she smiles at him. “I think Jane mentioned you’d be working in our labs?” 

“Yes, that’s correct.” 

“Well then, I will be sure to bring you tea when it’s time to make the drink runs. Do you have a favorite?” The conversation rolls on easily from there and Darcy marvels that she was nervous about meeting the rest of the team. They are all so welcoming and friendly that it’s hard for her to imagine being happier living anywhere else. 

~*~ 

Three days later Darcy and Clint are awoken from their sleep with klaxons blaring and a slow fade in of the lights in their bedroom. “Agent Barton,” JARVIS is calling from above them, “There’s a call to assemble. Your presence is requested at the landing pad in five minutes.”

“Got it, J. Can you kill the alarms?” Clint asks as he untangles himself from Darcy’s embrace and walks towards the row of uniforms that hang waiting for him in the closet. 

“Certainly, Agent Barton. The Captain has requested a call with you, shall I patch him through?”

“Send it to the living room, JARVIS,” Clint says as he pulls on his vest and grabs his boots from where they sit neatly by the bed. “And turn off the lights in here? Darcy doesn’t need to be awake.” The lights fade and Clint can see Darcy pulling the blanket from over her head and settling back down to sleep. He leaves to take the call from Cap and comes back a few minutes later. 

“Darcy?” he says quietly as he sits next to her on the bed. When she turns to look at him he can’t help but smile, her hair is disheveled and there’s a crease line from her pillow across her cheek. “I’ve got to go, Cap says it’ll be a few days before I’m back at least.”

“Mmmmkay,” Darcy says sleepily. “You’ll be safe?”

“You know it,” he smiles. “I’ll try and call you later if I get a chance okay?” He leans down and kisses her gently as she wraps her arms around his neck. She mutters her agreement into his shoulder. “See you later, alligator,” he whispers into her ear. 

“After a while, crocodile,” comes her sleepy response. By the time he’s shut the door to the bedroom, she is sleeping again. 

~*~ 

Darcy explores the tower in her downtime - what little she gets of it. JARVIS helps her by navigating her back to the common areas when she gets lost and giving her a heads up if she’s about to try and venture down a restricted corridor. Clint has been gone for a day and a half and although JARVIS has a message and a picture waiting to deliver to Clint’s communication device, he’s yet to tell her they have been sent. 

When Darcy finishes her shift with Jane she takes off to the small stairwell she’d found in the back of the lab hallway two days previously. She takes the stairs up as far as they’ll go and ducks into the room at the top landing. It’s quiet and peaceful, a wing chair sits in the middle of the small room facing a large window. Darcy isn’t entirely sure what this room was put here for, but she’d been daydreaming about reading a book and watching the sunset from this spot all day. 

She’s not even a chapter into her book when she hears the familiar voice of the AI calling to her, “Miss Lewis.” 

Darcy startles in her seat, “Shit JARVIS give a girl some warning, you scared me.”

“My apologies, Miss Lewis. Next time you are otherwise engaged I will be sure to caution you.”

“Thanks, J. What’s up?”

“Agent Barton has received your messages and would like me to patch him through to you.”

Darcy smiles, “Of course, JARVIS. Send him through.”

“Hey you,” Clint says from wherever he is. The line is clear and Darcy has to remind herself that he is somewhere far away and she cannot reach out and touch him. 

“Hey yourself,” she replies. “How are things?”

“Cold and boring, but that’s about all I can say,” comes Clint’s reply. 

“Okay,” Darcy agrees, understanding that there are certain boundaries he will never be able to cross with her. 

“What are you up to?” he asks. 

Darcy casts a glance around the small room and smiles. “Hiding out in a secret nook I found, reading until the sun sets,” Darcy tells him how she found the nook the other day and has been waiting to sneak back up ever since. 

She can hear Clint’s smile in his response, “I don't know what I should be more proud of - you finding a secret nook or the fact that it’s one I haven’t even found yet.”

“You’re kidding me, you haven’t found this place?” Darcy asks. Steve and Tony had been giving Clint crap for his sneaking around to scope the tower out since they’d moved in. 

“No, but I’ve been focusing more on the air shafts and how to get from place to place unknown than on finding reading alcoves. I think that’s more your strong suit, honey.”

“You’ve got a good point, Barton,” Darcy smiles. “Any idea how long you’ll be out?” she asks, careful to keep emotion out of her voice. 

“Probably another two days, maybe more. I’ve got about 6 hours until I have to be back on post and I’m not sure when my next break will be,” Clint replies. 

“You should probably get off the phone with me and sleep then.”

“Probably,” Clint agrees. “I’ll let you know when I have a better idea of when I’ll be back.”

“Okay, that’ll be nice,” Darcy agrees. “Sleep well, Clint. I love you.”

“You, too, Darce,” he says before the line goes dead. There are a few minutes of relative silence before Darcy picks up her book and begins reading again, too busy replaying their short conversation in her head. It’s the first time Clint has ever been able to talk to her while he was away and the call leaves her filled with warmth. 

Living here in this tower may be the best thing that has ever happened to her. 


	5. I Will Carry You In My Heart (As I Did From The Very Start)

Six months later Darcy is sitting in what would have been her apartment had she not moved in with Clint. Pepper is standing behind her, gently brushing out her hair and her younger sister, Sarah, is lounging on the couch that was brought into the apartment for the weekend. Darcy’s in the middle of her third cup of coffee when they hear the faint sound of the klaxons off in the distance and makes eye contact with Pepper in the mirror she’s sitting in front of. 

“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me,” Darcy deadpans. “The bad guys can’t give me one fucking day?” Darcy stands and the white silk robe she is wearing flutters around her legs. 

Pepper’s phone vibrates on the table and she snatches it up before Darcy can get to it. “Please tell me this is just a false alarm,” Pepper says in lieu of a greeting. There’s more of a conversation but Darcy can’t concentrate on what Pepper is saying, her sister is too busy looking concerned and scared at the noises from outside the room. 

“It’s a call to assemble,” Darcy explains to Sarah. “They go off pretty regularly. You’re lucky you’re staying here. In our apartment, the noise they make could wake the dead.”

Sarah just stares at her sister, “How are you this calm when your fiance is being called into battle on your wedding day?”

Before Darcy can answer her phone is ringing in her hand. She checks the caller ID and answers, “What’s up, Cap?”

“I promise you, Darcy, I will have Clint back here before the wedding,” comes Steve’s serious voice. 

“Are you sure you’re able to do that?” Darcy asks. This is supposed to be the most important day of her life, but if the citizens of New York are in danger she knows it’s more pressing than her wedding. 

“Are you doubting the star-spangled man with a plan?” Steve answers her, surprising himself with the snark in his voice. “I swear on the stars and stripes, Darce. I’ll have him back and uninjured for you.”

“I’m holding you to it,” she says before hanging up the phone and turning to Pepper. “Doom bots? They’re the only ones Steve would be so sure about defeating quickly.” At Pepper’s nod, Darcy continues, “Can you find out how long on average it takes the team to finish them?”

“I’m on it,” Pepper replies.

“Sarah,” Darcy says, “I need you to call the officiant and let him know we may need to push back the ceremony by an hour or two.”

“Consider it done,” Sarah replies as she gets up from the couch. 

“Where’s Mom?” Darcy asks as she ties her robe tighter around her body. “I bet she and Daddy are freaking out right now.”

“Not your responsibility, Darcy,” Jane calls from the doorway. “You need to be relaxing and getting ready for later. I can go take care of your parents.”

“Jane,” Darcy says pointedly, “How exactly am I supposed to relax when my fiance is fighting evil robots and may miss our wedding?”

“You pretend,” Jane replies. “Anyway, you have to stay here, your hair and makeup artists should be arriving soon.”

“This is the worst,” Darcy moans as she sits back down in the chair, unable to do anything. “JARVIS,” she calls out, “Can you please direct Jane to wherever my parents are? And when the-”

“I have been instructed to lead the beauty team to your suite, Miss Lewis. I will let you know when they are on the way. Dr. Foster, if you could please follow me,” the AI says as he lights up a path along the floor of the hallway. 

Darcy sits in silence while her friends make phone calls and arrangements for her. A few minutes pass before Sarah comes in from the bedroom she was talking in. “Bad news,” she says as she sits back down on the couch. “The officiant has another ceremony across town one hour after yours. He says he can probably stretch his time out an extra fifteen minutes, but any more than that and you won’t have an officiant.”

“Shit,” is all Darcy can think to say. 

Pepper speaks up then, “It generally only takes five hours for the team to defeat Doom, so if they stay on target they’ll only be thirty minutes late.”

“Shit,” Darcy says again. 

“Let me reach out to Natasha,” Pepper says. “I can let her know about the time crunch, she’s able to compartmentalize better than the rest of the team.” A few minutes later Pepper’s phone goes off and she reads off a text message from Natasha, “They’ve assessed the situation, looks like there are 50 robo-scorpions to defeat. She says they should be able to make it back in time but just in case…” Pepper trails off without finishing. 

“Just in case what, Pepper?!” Darcy asks, trying to keep the notes of worry out of her voice and failing. 

“Nothing, I’ll take care of it. JARVIS, can you point me to Jane, please?” With that Darcy and Sarah are left in the room together. 

“I mean, I guess you get to see what life at the tower is really like?” Darcy offers her sister by way of explanation. 

“How often do they go fight?” Sarah asks. 

“I don’t really keep track anymore,” Darcy admits, “I mostly just try and focus on the times they’re here with me.”

There’s only a few minutes pause before JARVIS alerts Darcy that the beauty team has arrived and are on their way to her suite. The next few hours are a flutter of brushes and hair dryers so Darcy has no time to think about her fiance and their friends out fighting evil robots or the fact that they may not make it back in time for her to get married. 

Pepper returns eventually and it’s clear she’s been doing a lot of work on something - her hair is no longer perfectly coiffed and instead pulled back and up with a pen. “Okay, Darcy. We had a slight change of venue,” she says sitting down across from the bride. 

“What exactly does that mean?” Darcy asks. 

Pepper smiles at her, “Natasha let me know that they’ll be cutting it close to the deadline for the officiant so we’ve moved the ceremony from the ballroom to the landing strip.”

“You what?” Darcy asks incredulously. 

“Natasha promised Clint would be ready to go when they landed and asked that we have everything ready to go and as close as possible to the landing so they had as much time as they could get,” Pepper explains. “Betsy let me know that she’s afraid of heights so I’ve been working with JARVIS on getting a screen set up near her seating area so that she cannot see down.”

“What about the reception?” Sarah asks. 

“Still in the ballroom,” Pepper says, “at the very least we will have an amazing party tonight.”

It’s not long before Sarah is getting into her sleek black Matron of Honor dress before helping Darcy into her wedding gown. “They’re on the way back, no injuries,” Pepper says to her as she fastens a string of pearls around Darcy’s neck. “Should be landing in the next 10 minutes.”

Darcy checks the time on the clock. With just the right amount of luck, the quinjet will land with about 10 minutes to spare before the officiant will have to leave to get across town. Tony has already promised that he’ll fly the man to wherever he needs to go if push comes to shove; every Avenger is excited about their nuptials and they are not afraid to show it. 

With her dress zipped, Darcy takes one last look in the floor length mirror. Her hair and makeup are perfect, subtle and soft just the way she knows Clint loves. The jewelry Pepper loaned her suits her features and her dress perfectly. “Ready?” Sarah asks her from just over her shoulder.

“Ready,” Darcy beams as she takes her sister’s hand and walks with her towards the waiting elevator car. The ride to the landing strip is quick, JARVIS knows what he’s doing, and when the elevator doors open Darcy can see that her friends have made quick work of decorating the space. It no longer looks like an industrial landing area, instead, there’s a long run of fabric (her aisle, Darcy thinks) leading from where the quinjet will land to an archway delicately decorated with flowers. 

The officiant is already waiting and from where Darcy is standing she can see her parents, Jane, and Pepper seated in the small collection of chairs. Sarah takes her hand again and leads her from the elevator a few feet forward to where the officiant stands in wait. 

“Sorry for the sudden change in plans, Sir,” Darcy says to him. “I appreciate you being so accommodating.”

“Not at all, dear,” the older man says as he leads her to where she should be standing in front of him. “I only hope you do not mind the slightly unconventional set up. When I learned of our time constraints it seemed the only way to make this possible would be for your groom to walk down the aisle to you.”

“I think,” Darcy laughs, “It’s fair to say that my relationship with Clint has rarely been conventional, so this switch up fits.” 

“Two minutes,” Pepper calls as she looks up from her phone. Darcy suddenly realizes that she’s about to marry Clint and he’s going to be in his Avengers uniform. She desperately hopes he leaves the bow on the quinjet, but knowing him she’s not sure she should count on it.

The aircraft approaches quietly and Darcy can’t hold back her grin. Waiting just inside that large machine is her fiance, soon to be her husband, and she cannot wait to begin her life officially by his side. The door opens and most of the team spills out, uniforms still on though weapons are thankfully still onboard the plane.

Once the small crowd is seated the next person Darcy sees is Natasha looking effortlessly elegant in a dress similar to Sarah’s. Natasha descends the stairs of the plane and just behind her is Clint. The sight takes Darcy’s breath away. 

Through some magic that Darcy can only assume was all Natasha’s doing, Clint is standing at the top of the stairs in a black tuxedo and bowtie. He looks more like he’s returning from a photo shoot than from fighting evil robots, which is entirely unfair, Darcy thinks. Her stomach flutters with excitement as Clint begins to walk down the stairs towards her, Natasha five feet ahead. 

Darcy could swear Clint was walking in slow motion even though when looking back on it there seemed to be barely a second between when he first got to the bottom of the stairs and when he held her hand at their makeshift altar. The officiant cleared his throat, “Distinguished guests, family, friends,” he paused between each word to give them all their own weight. “We are here today to celebrate the love of Clint Barton and Darcy Lewis. I have served over many weddings in my years, but never have I been present for a wedding day that so perfectly illustrated a marriage.” A noise runs through the small crowd at his words, but Clint and Darcy do not notice, they are entirely too wrapped up in each others stare. 

“Today started as any normal bride and groom would suspect their wedding day to begin,” the officiant continues. “Relaxing with friends and family before they begin getting ready. Soon, a wrench would be thrown into their plans, as will often happen in life. The couple could choose to work with what they have available to them or give up and give in.” Another murmur went through the group as they understood the man’s analogy. “After watching these two today I am confident in saying that they make an excellent pair.

“Today Darcy showed grace under pressure in the face of extreme change to a day that is typically so rigorously planned. Clint,” the man said turning to look at him, “Do you take this woman to be your lawfully wedded wife? To have and to hold for all the days of your life?”

“I do,” Clint said with a smile, still looking at Darcy.

“Darcy,” he said as he turned towards her, “Today Clint showed incredible bravery and determination as he fought to save the city and to get back to you in time. Do you take his man to be your lawfully wedded husband? To have and to hold for all the days of your life?”

“I do,” Darcy says happily. 

“Then Clint, you may kiss your bride.” A chorus of cheers goes up behind them as Clint pulls Darcy into a warm embrace and dips her a little as he kisses her. It lasts longer than strictly necessary, but none of the guests seemed to mind. The wedding was over, and as unconventional as it was - groom walking down the aisle, half the guests in superhero uniforms- it was exactly what Darcy didn’t know she had wanted. It was perfect. 

**Author's Note:**

> Come say hi to me on [tumblr](https://www.tumblr.com/blog/catemonsterq)!


End file.
